Here we are again at the Crossroads. Christianity Explained is designed for the person who knows nothing about Jesus or his Gospel.
Papatoetoe has an estimated 2.8% of its population in Church on a Sunday. Could you or I explain to the nearly 98% non-Christians in Papatoetoe (that’s 49 out of 50 people you see in the street) the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that helped them to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and gave them reason to change what they do on a Sunday morning? This course will equip you for the task.
In study one we established that the belief that Jesus is the Son of God is one of the 3 essential foundations to being a Christian. Knowing Jesus is the Son of God is life changing;
CS Lewis famously said;
You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.
In Study 2 we looked at the 2nd foundation to being a Christian, the acceptance of Jesus death on the Cross as necessary for the forgiveness of our sins.
We saw in Mark 15:33-39 that the day Jesus was crucified was not an ordinary day, that there was a supernatural clash of light and darkness, of God and Satan.
Firstly we are told that unusual darkness descended over the land at midday through to the moment he died at 3pm. We know this is unusual because the day of the crucifixion was Passover and that is always on a full moon, so when it says that it was dark from 12pm to 3pm, it shows that it could not have been an eclipse, that the darkness was supernatural and a supernatural act was taking place.
Secondly, this was not the peaceful death scene that Jesus deserved but one of darkness and anguish when Jesus cried out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
But God the Father turned Jesus’s weakest moment into his greatest triumph, laying the foundation stone of the Church.
The Cross became the most recognised symbol of the Christian faith. Every true Church lifts up the Cross as a message to the World.
Jesus’s cry « Why have you forsaken me? » was evidence in fact of Jesus taking our guilt and punishment in his body on the Cross. If we reject Christ’s offering for us, then this will be our cry too.
Thirdly, the Centurion was in awe of all he witnessed that day, the supernatural darkness, the way Jesus died was not like any man he had executed before. He proclaimed in awe and fear « Truly this Man was the Son of God !»
Fourthly, the temple curtain was torn in two. This was also a supernatural event. Only God could have torn the curtain and that was proven by the fact it was torn from the top down.
This shows that Jesus death on the Cross was acceptable to God once and for all. Whereas before, all other people were restricted from coming near to God other than the High Priest,
Now since the temple curtain was torn in two, all believers can enter into God’s presence because of the sacrifice Jesus made which is eternally acceptable to God.
Through Jesus death on the Cross, the Good News is that God and people are restored to friendship.
Jesus has paid the ransom for your soul when he died on the Cross. But you have to want to go free!
If you do not accept what Jesus has done for you and continue on your own way, you will find eventually that way is Death and you will bear your own sins on Judgement Day.
Now we turn to the 3rd and final leg in our illustration, the Resurrection. Without the resurrection, we just have a good story, just history. But because of the resurrection, we have a living Saviour who can meet our need today and tomorrow and forever. Amen!
An understanding and belief in the resurrection of Jesus is the 3rd of the 3 foundations to being a Christian.
We instinctively know that there must be something more beyond the World we can see. Death is an invader into our World. Mankind has so much sadness because of Death. We are even sad when our pet dies let alone someone we love.
Death itself is nothing,
But this we fear:
To be
We know not what
We know not where
Before I was a Christian, I could not imagine life beyond the veil of Death. All I could see was blackness and this was very scary. But when I became a Christian, I began to see that there is life after Death and find that in fact there is good evidence for it.
Jesus foretold his own death and resurrection on many occasions.
Mark 10:32-34
Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed. And as they followed they were afraid. Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.”
Mark’s account of the resurrection is the briefest.
Mark 16:1-8
Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Jesus appeared to his disciples at least 10 times after his resurrection and there were 500 witnesses at one of those times according to 1 Corinthians 15:6 (most probably at his ascension). The evidence for the resurrection is extremely strong and has been a reason that several well known atheists and agnostics converted to Christianity in the last 100 years and penned the following excellent books;
1. Frank Morison - Who Moved the Stone
2. Josh McDowell - Evidence that Demands a Verdict
3. Lee Strobel - The Case for Christ
4. J Warner Wallace - Cold Case Christianity
When each of these men weighed up the facts and the alternative explanations to the resurrection, they came to the conclusion, against their will, that it was beyond reasonable doubt that Jesus was raised from the dead and they became followers of Christ.
I won’t go into detailed explanations today as we have covered these in depth on many Easter Sundays but there are 6 false theories that have been put forward over time and they are all logically dismissed based on the evidence, the main being that the disciples all died for declaring the resurrection was true, except for John who was banished to a prison island.
1. Swoon
• Jesus didn’t die but revived in the tomb
2. Hallucination
• The people that saw Jesus were hallucinating
3. Impersonation
• The person they met wasn’t the real Jesus
4. Spiritual Resurrection
• The story is a spiritual illustration not physical truth
5. Wrong Tomb
• Jesus’ followers went to the wrong tomb
6. Theft
• The disciples stole the body which is what the religious leaders paid the soldiers at the tomb to say as recorded in Matthew 28:13-15.
Please see me later if you want a more detailed explanation.
It is important to realise that Jesus was physically resurrected, the disciples could touch him and he could eat. This should give us great hope for our own resurrection one day! Have you ever wondered what the world will be like without you, if you died, and where you would go and what it would be like. Could you answer the question with assurance that you would go to Heaven if you died tonight?
The resurrection gives the believer in Jesus the confidence to know that they will also live on with a body in a physical place with Jesus, that they won’t be a ghost floating through space trapped without a home.
Acts 10:39-41
And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.
Having been witnesses to Jesus’s resurrection restored the disciples hope to something much greater than mere belief. They were transformed and responded with joy to Jesus’s command to go into the World and tell everyone the Good News. Their transformation is a major proof that the resurrection is a fact.
Acts 10:42-43
And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”
This passage tells us 5 things;
1. All people will be raised
v42 refers to the living and the dead. The Bible teaches that all people throughout history will be raised. I once heard of an atheist who hated God so much they asked to be buried in a thick concrete tomb that could never be broken to prove there was no life after death. Within a few years a small plant grew in a crack and split the tomb wide open. Even your cremation won’t stop you being raised from the dead.
2. All people will be judged
There will be justice one day. This sounds good when we think of all the evil people in history. But Jesus said man must give account for every idle word spoken. Many curse and speak hate against God today. But even you and me must one day give an account - on the day of Judgment- to God who gave us life. And we’re honest with ourselves, the pages in our book are full of bad words, bad thoughts, bad actions. Our supposedly clean lives are also polluted with sewer water.
3. The risen Jesus will be the Judge on that Day.
v42 tells us Jesus is the one ordained to judge us. Not Allah but Jesus, the one who many hate today. This is why the resurrection of Jesus is so vital. It not only guarantees our resurrection but also our judgment. It is to Jesus we are accountable !
4. All people will be divided into 2 groups
Sheep
- Those who believe in Jesus now
- Are forgiven now
- Are accepted by Jesus on Judgement Day (Heaven)
Goats
- Those who reject Jesus now
- Trust their own goodness
- Are rejected by Jesus on Judgement Day (Hell)
Many of Jesus’s parables spoke of this division such as the Wheat and the Tares, the Rich man in Hell, the good and worthless fish, the Sheep and the Goats.
5. The division is forever.
The Bible doesn’t speak of a second chance after death. It teaches that it this life, now, is our one and only opportunity. Today is the day of salvation.
We hear a lot of stories today about Near Death Experiences of people who weren’t believers and died, went to a beautiful place where they met Jesus but were told this wasn’t their time and to go back. They return to life and are never afraid of dying after that but they don’t become Christians. We need to be very cautious with stories like that even though they sound convincing. The reason I say that is that they died and came back as unbelievers. If they claim all is well beyond the grave, they are deceived because they died in their sins.
However, if they give a testimony that all was not well beyond the grave for them, then we can consider whether other things they say point to them being truthful. But genuine testimonies like that at rare and thank God for his grace to those people, to the likes of Ian McCormack, the so called Jellyfish man from New Zealand who was stung by a box jellyfish as an unbeliever and died but by the Grace of God was saved.
Next week we will discuss this hard hitting message further. A lot of people reject Jesus because of his message about separating people on Judgment Day. They cannot believe that God would throw someone in Hell just because they would not believe and accept his payment at the Cross for the forgiveness of their sins . They do not believe that they or their unbelieving friends and family are guilty before God and will be judged and go to Hell if they die in their sins. People get angry because of this message, they reject Jesus and the Church because of the offence of the Gospel.
Mark 8:38
For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
It would not be a surprise to hear a lot of questions from people who hear this message for the first time, so we will discuss and try to answer these this next week.
